Viral Video: Careful, This Stuff's Powerful

For the past four years, the Sunshine Press, which operates the non-profit website WikiLeaks, has caused quite a stir among governments—both U.S. and international—by posting documents and information provided or “leaked” to it by anonymous sources close to those governments. As an example of just how seriously governments take WikiLeaks, a March 2008 U.S. cyber counterintelligence report posted on the site on March 15, 2010 details U.S. Intelligence’s plans to destroy WikiLeaks, citing that there is no way to determine whether sensitive or classified information is shared that might damage national security. WikiLeaks has persevered, although not without its share of censure (it’s been blocked by the governments of China, Zimbabwe, Russia, North Korea, Vietnam and Israel, for example).

But on April 5, it posted what is probably the most sensational material in its tenure: a classified 18-minute video leaked by an anonymous Pentagon source that allegedly shows the Apache helicopter killing of two Reuters employees and their rescuers outside of Baghdad in 2007, which it posted under the URL “CollateralMurder.com.” For the past three years, Reuters had unsuccessfully attempted to obtain this video and related materials from the Pentagon through the Freedom of Information Act.

WikiLeaks sent two reporters to Baghdad to research the story and interview the families of the victims and, according to founder Julian Assange, broke the code that encrypted the video. Within 24 hours of its posting, it had garnered over 1.3 million hits on YouTube. Critics of the video, including a helicopter pilot involved in the mission, state that the video is misleading in its portrayal of a malicious act rather than the result of confusion on the ground. But the mushroom effect of this video points up the immediacy of digital media and its powerful reach.

WikiLeaks is currently in the process of soliciting funds to cover the costs of releasing another video showing civilian killings in Afghanistan. The organization has operated on a budget of about $600,000 per year, and states that it has currently raised just over half of that for 2010. It claims to have thousands of pages of documents that it cannot share with the world due to limited capacity, but its method of digital sharing appears to be a cost-effective one: even $10 can cover the cost of releasing a document to 10,000 people.

As Assange puts it, “In terms of journalism efficiency, I think we discovered a lot with a small amount of resources.”

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!Viva Young Global Journalists!

This morning we had the pleasure of meeting with a group of nine young journalists from all over the world who are taking part in the World Press Institute’s annual fellowship program. The groups includes (click here to see bios on the entire group) reporters from Argentina, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Brazil, China, Hungary, India, Lithuania, South Africa and Spain (the Nigerian fellow listed was unable to attend).

In short, meeting these fellows quickly reinforces the importance of journalism and defines the spirit of civic engagement. The Bosnian fellow, Ermin, carries out serious investigative reporting projects (which he says an instructor described as basically reporting on ‘bad people doing bad things’). The Brazilian reporter, Tatiana, says that every story that appears in her paper, Zero Hora of Porto Alegre, now has a special sidebar that provides perspective for young readers. And the Lithuanian reporter, Vykintas, has written extensively about comparative political systems in Eastern Europe (see his web site at http://www.geocities.com/vykintas/index_e.html).

The eight-week fellowship tour includes visits to a jet propulsion laboratory, Obama campaign offices, Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, the L.A. Times, the Newseum, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and four days filing stories from the Republican National Convention. To follow the group blog, click here.

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A Real World Wide Web...of International Journalists

Journalists and trainers from all across the globe can now connect more fluidly and effectively through the newly re-vamped IJNet.org online portal, run by MF grantee the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ). IJNet has been the most popular portal for training opportunities for journalists worldwide since its inception in 1998, according to ICFJ. More than 18,000 people from 100 countries subscribe to its weekly bulletin.

The site's makeover means it's now Web 2.0 and features social networking tools for journalists to communicate, discussion forums, news on world journalism activities and more. True to its global roots, users can access materials in Arabic, English, Persian, Portuguese and Spanish, according to ICFJ.

Check it out now and create your own profile at: www.IJNet.org

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McCormick Hosts Ethnic Media Leaders

The recent “McCormick Ethnic Media Conference: Strategies for Growing the Sector” brought some 30 leaders from across the nation to Chicago to discuss strategies, obstacles, lessons learned and impact of the work they do. The conference featured a public panel Friday, June 20 on “The State of Ethnic Media: Boom or Bust?” This public discussion was moderated by Community Media Workshop’s Thom Clark and featured Sandy Close of New America Media, Cristina Azocar of the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism at San Francisco State University and Juana Ponce de Leon of New York Community Media Alliance. Here are video excerpts from that lively exchange:

• Thom Clark of CMW introduces the panel and discusses the results of his organization’s research into Chicago’s 200 ethnic news outlets (click here)
• Panelists discuss challenges facing ethnic media
(click here
• Juana Ponce de Leon discusses the vibrancy of the ethnic media in a city where 40% of residents are foreign-born (click here)
• Cristina Azocar discusses the research conducted by SFSU on opportunities and threats to EM nationally (click here)
• Sandy Close on the role and strengths of EM (click here)
• Sandy Close on EM and advertising potential (click here)
• Closing comments on MSM v EM v the death of journalism (click here)

A highlight of this event was a spoken word performance by Esther Ikoro and Adam Gottlieb of Young Chicago Authors (click here)

Photo above by Demetrio Maguigad of Community Media Workshop

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ICFJ Names International Journalism Award Winners

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) named its 2007 Knight International Journalism Award winners today. This year’s winners are Wael Abbas, an Egyptian blogger, and investigative reporter May Thingyan Hein of Burma.

Abbas’ win marks the first time a blogger has received the award. His blog, Misr Digital, has covered stories such as police brutality and corruption—topics that many mainstream media normally don’t—and has attracted so much attention that it’s encouraged the media to begin reporting these subjects. Despite beatings and arrests, Abbas says that bloggers are “the last independent voice,” and are “necessary” for protests to be heard in Egypt.

May Thingyan Hein, who is a freelance journalist, also tackles controversial topics in her investigative reporting. In Burma, stories must be submitted to officials before being released and her coverage of the spread of bird flu into the country was instrumental in forcing the government to take action against the epidemic.

ICFJ President Joyce Barnathan says that Abbas and Hein are “blazing the path in their countries with extremely bold coverage” and that others should follow their example.

The Knight International Journalism Awards are given by the Knight International Journalism Fellows, funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The Fellows strive to lead the news media into making societies more accountable to citizens.

For more information, visit ICFJ online, or visit The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation online.

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Being There

It’s a stark and grisly black-and-white image from the past – a line of executioners, kneeling and squatting under a hot mid-day sun - captured the moment they open fire on a row of prisoners several yards in front of them. Facing in the direction of the firing squad, but blindfolded, most of the prisoners are already crumbling to the ground or being thrown backward as bullets hit them, dust flying up from the earth. A lone prisoner on the far right side of the image adds to the photograph’s considerable power – he still stands facing above and beyond his executioner, unable to see him, awaiting death.

For 27 years this Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Kurdish prisoners being executed was attributed only to an ‘anonymous’ photographer. When it ran the photo in 1979, the Iranian newspaper Ettela’at chose not to reveal the photographer’s name out of concern for his safety. Fast forward to 2002, when reporter Joshua Prager of The Wall Street Journal tracked down the unknown photojournalist. He eventually found the author of the photograph – Jahangir Razmi – and convinced Razmi to show him the entire contact sheet. The Iranian journalist’s name finally appeared as the photo’s author in a Journal story from December of this past year (throughout the years numerous other photographers had been cited as the author) and at the Pulitzer luncheon at Columbia University on May 21 Razmi received his Pulitzer certificate and $10,000 prize.

Kudos go out to many in a fascinating story like this – to the folks at the local UPI desk 27 years ago who immediately appreciated the photo’s value and had it transmitted around the globe; to Prager for the persistence in pursuing a difficult story; to Sig Gissler, who administers the Pulitzer for exploring whether this is now a safe time for the prize to be given; and to Razmi. For being there when it counts.
To see Prager’s December 2006 piece in the Wall Street Journal (includes a link to the entire contact sheet of photos that Razmi took that day)
To see a New Yorker piece on Razmi’s recent trip to the U.S.
To see an International Herald Tribune piece which includes the photograph

For those in the Chicago area: The First Division Museum at Cantigny (Wheaton, IL) is hosting a summer exhibit “REQUIEM: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina.” These 150 ‘moving and powerful photographs – taken by men and women on all sides who gave their lives during the conflict – begin with the French Indochina War in the 1950s and culminate with the fall of Phnom Penh and Saigon in 1975.’ The opening is June 21, 2007, at 6:30 pm. See the Cantigny website for more information at www.FirstDivisionMuseum.org.

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Community Journalists to Participate in World Affairs Fellowship

Thirteen top U.S. journalists selected as World Affairs Journalism Fellows will spend up to three weeks abroad reporting on issues that are vital to their local communities. This program is administered by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) and sponsored by the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, with additional funding from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. The fellowship covers travel and reporting expenses abroad and provides each Fellow with a mentor who has regional and topical expertise relevant to the reporting project. According to ICFJ Vice President of Programs Patrick Butler, "This fellowship is truly unique because it allows news organizations to make international issues relevant to their audiences across the United States.” He also says that it's "never been more important for Americans to understand what is happening beyond our borders," due to terrorism, climate change and other world issues, while news organizations are ironically scaling back international coverage.

World Affairs Journalism Fellows have won more than 20 top journalism awards for the stories they’ve done on this fellowship since 2002. This year’s fellows are:

Antigone Barton*, Reporter, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post
Linda Blackford, Enterprise Reporter, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader
Craig Gima, Reporter/Assistant City Editor, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Stephanie R. Heinatz, Military Reporter, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)
Ellen Lee, Technology Reporter, San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Moser, Business Reporter, The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, La.)
Matt O’Brien, Reporter, The Daily Review (Hayward, Calif.)
Julian Pecquet, Staff Writer, Tallahassee (Fla.) Democrat
Jeffrey Sheban, Senior Business Reporter, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch
J.B. Smith, Staff Writer, Waco (Texas) Tribune-Herald
Laura Ungar, Medical Writer, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Ky.)
Carroll Wilson, Editor, Times Record News (Wichita Falls, Texas)
Dan Zehr, Business Reporter, Austin (Texas) American-Statesman

* Barton is the Pulitzer Center Fellow

The Fellows will also be honored at reception at the National Press Club on June 5, which will feature ABC's John Donvan and will include an exhibit of past fellows’ best newspaper layouts and photos.

The International Center for Journalists, a non-profit, professional organization, promotes quality journalism worldwide in the belief that independent, vigorous media are crucial in improving the human condition. Over the past 22 years, ICFJ has worked directly with journalists from 176 countries. Aiming to raise the standards of journalism, ICFJ offers hands-on training workshops, seminars, fellowships and international exchanges to reporters and media managers around the globe. For more information, or to apply for the 2008 program, please visit their website below:

World Affairs Journalism Fellows

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